


lullaby

by miastree



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Canon-typical swearing, Fluff, M/M, Sharing a Bed, Sleepy Cuddles, also known as Oblivious Boys, because teenagers, dex is sleepy, i guess, nursey is a polyglot, this is all fluff the whole thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-12
Updated: 2017-01-12
Packaged: 2018-09-15 03:16:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9216239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miastree/pseuds/miastree
Summary: Dex doesn't sleep. Nursey helps.Chowder has a folder on his phone called 'nurseydex', Samwell Men's Hockey have a seperate group chat for the same sneaky photos, and Ransom and Holster can't quite hack Idina Menzel's vocal range.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [polyglot](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8896711) by [shellybelle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shellybelle/pseuds/shellybelle). 



> also known as: you can fight me for sleepy dex and polyglot nursey and it will be to the death.  
> the second alternative title reads: wtf i just wanted to write a drabble about Dex/Sleep and Dex/Nursey/Sleep and Ransom/Holster/Broadway apparently and this happened what am i doing it's 1am HELP.
> 
> translations are in the notes at the end. i dont speak any language that isn't english so please PLEASE let me know if i have butchered your native language!  
> also this is my first ever fic so be nice ahhhhHHhh

Dex never sleeps.

The Samwell Men's Hockey team are used to the bags under his eyes and his excessive need for caffeine; so used to it that they usually just slip him a cup of coffee whenever he arrives at the Haus, which he always takes with a small " _hmm_ " of gratitude.

"Do you just, like, never sleep?" Ransom asks him once.

"Not much. I grab some sleep when I can, work the rest of the time," Dex says.

Ransom shakes his head. "That's not healthy, man."

Dex just shrugs and sips his coffee and nobody talks about it after that. If Bitty slips him extra baked goods, though, nobody says anything.

 

Nursey watches Dex from afar, as usual. It astounds him that Dex can still function as a human, yet alone be such a good player on the ice, with such little sleep. It does kind of give him an insight into why Dex is so angry all the time, though.

Right now, Nursey watches Dex over the kitchen table as he types furiously on his keyboard. Nursey, with a plate of cookies by his textbooks, has abandoned all efforts to copy any notes down in favour of staring at his teammate over the top of his laptop. Dex pauses over the keyboard and Nursey picks up his pen so he could look like he was doing, well, something other than staring at him, but Dex pays no mind. Instead, Dex yawns widely, pulls his sweater sleeves over his hands and wipes them over his eyes.

" _Fils de salope_ ," Nursey whispers to himself as a reaction to the odd feeling that jolts up into his chest.

"Hmm?" Dex asks, opening his eyes and looking up at him.

Nursey clears his throat. "Um, nothing."

Dex gives him a look and returns to his laptop, meaning Nursey returns to watching him as he concentrates.

"How long are you going to stare at me for without asking your question?" Dex says after five minutes, making Nursey jump. He doesn't even look up from his keyboard. Nursey's face flushes red and he's glad that Dex's eyes are trained on his laptop.

"I'm sure I, uh, don't know what you mean," he manages to get out without too creaky a voice. _Chill_ , he tells himself.

Dex shrugs. "You just seem like you want to ask me something. Why else would you be sitting there just staring?"

"How much sleep did you get last night?" Nursey blurts. He hadn't been meaning to ask that question, but Dex's undereye circles looked worse than normal. He lets it happen.

Dex rolls his eyes and looks up from his laptop once more. "Why do people keep asking me this? Do I look like a zombie all the time?"

"Yes," Nursey says coolly, and takes a bite of a cookie. "Answer the question."

"Uh," Dex looks thoughtful for a second. "Maybe three hours? Four? I dropped off when I was going through some textbooks on my bed."

" _Putain_ , Dex, tu es _completement_ débile," Nursey reels off, and is met with a glare.

"You know I don't understand French, Nurse," he snaps. "It's really annoying when y-"

Nursey swallows. "Woah, Dex, ch- uh, I just meant, you really can't run off that little sleep."

Dex shrugs. "I've made it this far."

"Dude, the amount of coffee you drink isn't healthy," Nursey winces.

Dex opens his mouth to argue and Nursey shoves a cookie in it.

"We're all just worried about you, bro."

He glares at Nursey, but it isn't as harsh as usual.

 

**one**

* * *

 Nursey is walking back from the library, feet dragging on the pavement. He's tired; early morning hockey always seems to get the best of him around 4pm.

His phone buzzes in his pocket and he brings it up to his face. _Free pie, boys! Come and get it while it's hot and R+H are still dancing to H's musicals playlist!_ Bitty has messaged the SMH group. Nursey's face lights up at the guarantee of free pie and hilarious company.

He quickly changes direction and ends up at the Haus, where Bitty is dishing up said free pie and Ransom and Holster have formed a two-man kick line to their awful singing, which this time happens to be along to Kara Lindsay and the Newsies cast recording.

"Ah, Nursey!" Bitty beams as soon as he sees Nursey standing in the kitchen doorway watching the display before him.

"Yo, Bits," Nursey says and takes the plate that is handed to him.

There's a lull in conversation that would've been peaceful if it weren't for Ransom and Holster's shouting along to the last few lines of Watch What Happens, which unfortunately are very high.

"Dex!" Bitty exclaims, jumping immediately back into his animated excitement. "You never come for free pie! This is a special occasion, I should get my streamers out or somethin'."

Nursey turns to see Dex in the doorway, who shrugs. "I was hungry, I guess. I've been studying. I also, didn't want to miss the, uh, dancing."

The three of them turn to look at the questionable dancing. "We're here all week, bro!" Ransom yells over the sounds of Rory O'Malley whilst Holster tap dances. He isn't very good at it.

Nursey laughs and looks over at Dex, who is smiling. Nursey is momentarily entranced; a smiling Dex is a rare thing and Must Be Taken In. It's also very pretty, Nursey thinks fleetingly.

"Chowder's on the sofa watching a Sharks interview if y'all wanna go and sit down in there," Bitty says, smirking as he all but shoos Nursey and Dex away with his tea towel. "Slightly less exciting entertainment but at least you can escape Ransom's _dulcet tones_."

The pair do what they're told and trudge into the lounge, dropping down beside Chowder on the sofa, who barely acknowledges them. He's too focused on the screen to notice.

"Yo, C," Nursey says.

"Will you stop saying yo," Dex groans through a mouthful of blueberry pie. "It's the most annoying thing ever."

Nursey snorts. "I can think of much more irritating things that I can do."

"Well, if you even think about doing any of them I will stab you with my fork," Dex threatens mildly before turning his attention back to the screen.

"Then watch out, habibi," Nursey says and Dex throws him a sideways look, the one he always gives Nursey when he talks in a language he doesn't understand.

"If you're going to insult me at least do it in English so I can insult you back without having to Google anything," he says.

Nursey laughs around his fork. _Please don't google that,_ he thinks. "Sure thing, brah. Next time," he says instead.

Dex groans in frustration.

The three of them sit in silence watching the interview before Chowder excuses himself to go and Skype Farmer. Nursey and Dex barely have time to yell " _FOIIIINE_ " before he is off the sofa and up the stairs. 

They don't change the channel and end up watching a rerun of The Simpsons. Throughout the programme, Dex's head makes its way slowly but surely onto Nursey's shoulder. He's asleep and Nursey's heart is pounding.

"Ana bahebak," Nursey whispers sleepily, and with that he shifts so he's lying sideways, more comfortably. He drifts off to sleep.

When Chowder walks back in, laptop in hand, he's met with the view of them both asleep on the sofa. Dex's head is rested on Nursey's chest and they're curled up together, Nursey's arms around Dex's waist.

Chowder takes a picture, but he doesn't send it to the Samwell Men's Hockey group. At least not yet.

 

**two**

* * *

 The library is silent, as always. Nursey scans it for signs of life: a couple of freshmen sit in a corner poring over their textbooks, what seems to be one third of the women's volleyball team furiously scribbling in notepads, and Dex.

Dex, as usual, is typing away furiously on his keyboard at a pace that is almost superhuman. Nursey rolls his eyes at him.He's fully aware of the day Dex has had. Up at six thirty, breakfast, a class at seven thirty, typing like a maniac at the Haus until three when he has another class and then more typing, only in the library. Nursey makes his way over.

"Yo, Poindexter," he says and drops into the seat opposite.

Dex looks up at him and glares before returning his gaze back to the screen. Nursey laughs as he remembers Dex's aversion to the greeting.

"I mean," Nursey says before crooning, "William, my dear friend, why _hello_ , how has your day been? Wonderful as ever, I hope?"

To Nursey's surprise, Dex chokes out a laugh which makes his heart speed up drastically. The librarian gives Nursey a death stare over Dex's head.

"Uh, ordinary, I guess," Dex answers after recovering his composure.

"Well, it's about to get better," Nursey says, and drops a ziplock bag of brownies in front of Dex, whose eyes light up. 

"My saviour!" Dex seems to shout; it's probably not shouting but the silence of the library makes it ten times louder. The librarian clears her throat pointedly but both of them ignore her.

Nursey instead focuses on how the excitement in Dex's eyes clashes with the dark circles underneath them, how his freckles seem to have depleted because of the winter months, how the light streaming through the windows above them lights up the wisps of his hair in a vibrant orange, how -

"Nurse?" Dex says, and Nursey snaps out of his reverie to see him holding out a brownie towards him.

He ignores the blush he knows is spreading across his face and takes it.

"Thanks, Nursey," Dex says quietly. Nursey grins at him but says nothing.

After that, the pair sit in silence, much to the librarian's relief. Dex puts one earphone back in instead of both, opting to keep one ear open in case Nursey wants to offer him the last brownie or praise him on his typing skills, both of which happen over the next hour.

Nursey  finally thinks of two more points for one of his comparative literature essays and spends another half an hour scribbling furiously on his notepad. When he looks up, ready to shout at Dex that it's finished, his heart melts.

Dex is asleep. He has slumped so far down in his chair that he's only visible from the nose up, and now Nursey thinks about it he can feel Dex's legs nestled gently beside his own. He's breathing softly, arms crossed over his chest, brownie crumbs on his navy hoodie.

Nursey snaps a picture and tries to ignore how his cheeks have flooded with red.

 

** three **

* * *

 "I still don't get why d-men have to sit next to each other on the coach," Bitty says without looking up from his phone. Nursey thinks he can see him typing.

"Bits, I can't leave Holtzy to some other floozy! We're joined at the hip!" Ransom croons. Bitty rolls his eyes but smiles.

"Brah, take this one," Holster says to Ransom, who takes the earphone handed to him. "I've been telling you Laura Bell Bundy can belt for days and _here_ is the  proof."

Ransom listens with interest as Bitty's eyes flick over to Nursey and Dex, seated across from him. "I'm chalking it up to superstition," he says finally. Nursey watches as he hits  _ tweet _ .

Nursey grins. "I dunno. Could well be."

Bitty winks at him and pulls the strings on his hoodie so it covers up his entire face. Nursey snorts at the action and takes the hint, turning away from Bitty and to his phone. He unlocks it and winces at the red  16% he can see at the top of the screen. " _Cojeme_ ," he curses, quickly putting it on airplane mode and dropping it into his bag.

Dex nudges him and Nursey looks over to see him holding out an earphone.

"If you chirp me about my music I will fight you," Dex says, but gives him the right earphone anyway and turns back to his textbook.

Nursey smiles to himself as classical music begins to play in his right ear. It takes just about every ounce of willpower not to chirp Dex for his love of classical music but somehow he manages it, and he can feel himself drifting off to Dex's playlist.

He lets it happen without much of a second thought.

"YO!"

Nursey jolts awake and sits bolt upright in his seat, choking when his seatbelt tightens around his chest.

Ransom, Chowder and Whiskey laugh as they pull their bags down from the overhead spaces.

"Not  _ cool_, man," Nursey whines at Ransom, who winks. He's about 95% sure it was Ransom, in any case.

Nursey feels Dex stir beside him and he makes the mistake of looking down at him. His eyes are misty with sleep, and as he stretches to drag his hands over his face, Nursey stares.

Having Dex so close to him isn't unusual. They're  _ friends _ now, as well as partners on the ice and study buddies or whatever, but having him asleep in such a close proximity sends Nursey's pulse racing. Dex isn't generous with sleep, and Nursey is starting to notice that whenever Dex sleeps, Nursey is also there. Usually staring adoringly at him.

There's something about Dex and sleep; the way he's so precious about it and thinks it's a waste of valuable working time. But when he sleeps, oh  man , he changes: it's like he doesn't have a care in the world. It's obvious by the way he holds himself and the lazy smile he lets settle on his face. It suits him, Nursey thinks.

Chowder clears his throat pointedly and Nursey quickly looks away, thoughts interrupted, heart thudding practically in his throat and cheeks reddening.

" Qué chingados," he blurts out loudly, by way of coping, probably.

Holster, who took half a semester of Spanish and somehow only remembers any of it during Nursey's multilingual brain farts, laughs out loud on his way off the coach.

When they get back to the Haus, Nursey gets a text message.

_** 23:43 Chowder:  ** sent a photo _

_** 23:43 Chowder: ** You two are going to put so much towards the Sin Bin fund when you sort yourselves out. _

Nursey opens the message; it's a slightly blurry photo of Dex and himself asleep. Dex's head has dropped onto Nursey's shoulder and Nursey's head on to Dex's - it looks comfortable and more to the point, it looks cute.

Chowder walks into him and Nursey notices he's stood, stationary, in the corridor with his mouth agape. Chowder strides away in hysterics.

 

** four **

* * *

 "Bunk beds!" Nursey yells, launching his bag over the railings and onto the top bunk. "Yo, I never had a bunk bed!"

"Did you have a  _ king sized _ _bed_ , Nurse?" Dex chirps.

Nursey throws his shoe at him.

"You two!  _ Shhh_!" Chowder says loudly. "We need to unpack our stuff quickly, Bitty wants us to meet in the foyer first before we leave for dinner."

Nursey gasps and falls on Dex's bed dramatically, one hand on his forehead in an acting faint.

"Hey!" Dex shouts.

"In my defence," Nursey says, "my bed is incredibly difficult to dramatically faint onto."

Dex rolls his eyes and shoves Nursey, but he doesn't do it hard and Nursey moves about half a metre. Dex sits on the bed and begins to root through his bag.

Nursey sits up, examining the underneath of the top bunk with interest. Chowder has busied himself with setting up a homely toiletries display around the sink.

" _ Shit _ !" Dex swears, and empties his entire bag onto the duvet. "I forgot my laptop charger!"

Chowder sighs in empathy.

"Oh no!" Nursey shouts. "Terrible! You'll have to  _ actually sleep _ for once like a healthy human being instead of coding until 4am!"

Chowder snorts. Dex shoves Nursey off the bed.

They end up being late for dinner, but they make it in the end and it's nice. Nursey spends so much time around these people, he forgets sometimes just how much they mean to him. And with Dex by his side throughout the entire meal, their arms brushing due to what feels like something more than an accident, Nursey's heart is full.

They stumble tiredly back to the hotel. Chowder buzzes them into the room, brushes his teeth and disappears under his duvet almost immediately after sending Farmer several goodnight texts.

Dex, however, props himself up with his pillows and gets out his textbook.

"No fucking  _ way_, Poindexter," Nursey hisses, as not to wake Chowder. "You aren't working now."

Dex glares up at Nursey whose head is stuck over the railings on the top bunk. "Shut up, Nurse. It's only eleven."

"Go to  sleep , bro," Nursey says seriously and his head disappears from above Dex. He shuts his book but doesn't move.

"I can't," he says. Nursey sticks his head back over the railing to see Dex staring directly ahead with a blush resting on his face. "Sleep, I mean. Not really. It's difficult."

Nursey sighs. "I'm coming down, Dex."

"Nurse -"

"If you try and stop me I will throw your laptop in to the LAX Bro's fish pond," Nursey says innocently. Dex doesn't reply.

Nursey makes his way down the bunk bed ladder and comes to a stop at the end. His heart is beating a mile a minute but he confidently, he hopes it looks confident, slings his pillow onto Dex's bunk and slides in beside him.

Dex still doesn't say anything. Instead he leans into Nursey's warm frame and, for the first time in months, falls asleep before eleven.

_** 8:37 Chowder: ** So cute it sickens me _

_**8:37 Chowder:** DO SOMETHING!!!!! _

_**8:38 Chowder:** sent a photo _

 

** five **

* * *

It starts with this:

_** 15:22 Nursey: ** do you want to come to ours for spring break??? im alone otherwise _

_** 15:31 Dex: ** Do i have to act rich _

_**15:31 Nursey:** of course u fucking don't _

_**15:56 Dex:** Then I would love to _

_**14:01 Dex:** :) _

It ends with Nursey showing Dex all his favourite nooks and crannies of New York City, and also some of the sightseeing stuff that Dex saw in the movies. They don't forget to take a photo of every single billboard on Broadway and send it on the Samwell Men's Hockey group for Holster (and Ransom) to type trivia about in all caps.

"I'm still surprised by the fact that people, like,  live in New York," Dex says to Nursey as they pile into his family's apartment.

He laughs. "And why is that?"

Dex launches a shoe at the pile next to the door that they seem to have created over the week. "I don't know. I guess my brain just assumed it was all hotels and coffee shops and businesses and yellow cabs. Like in the movies."

"I get that," Nursey shrugs. "Do you want me to order Indian?"

"Sure," Dex says and takes his claimed space in the corner of the L-shaped sofa. He turns on the television and Nursey's face heats up at the sight of him feeling so at home in Nursey's house, the one he's lived in all his life.

"You know my order right?" Dex interrupts his thoughts over the sound of a random Doctor Who episode.

"Of course," Nursey croaks. Dex gives him an odd look.

"I'm going to marathon every single David Tennant episode in one go," Dex claims.

"zhù nǐ hǎoyùn," Nursey says, and when Dex stares at him, he translates with "good luck."

"Are you not going to do it with me?" he says dejectedly, the pout on his face a picture of disappointment.

Nursey laughs. "Of course, bro, but my bed is  soft . I'm not missing it because of David Tennant, no matter how good of a Doctor he is."

He looks over at Dex, who seems to be doing the maths in his head. 

"Even though Matt Smith is way better," Nursey says quickly, and he's up on his feet and out of the lounge door to grab his phone before Dex can react.

The night ends the same as it has all week. Well-fed, tired and happy, the two d-men yawn practically in synchronisation and stare at the black television screen as the episode ends.

"But Rose, she just..." Dex trails off.

"I know, man," Nursey says. "Are you ready for bed yet?"

Dex yawns, laughs and then nods, throwing the blanket off him and standing up. Nursey marvels at him like this, with his guard down. He's happy. The fact that he's happy with Nursey makes him want to cry, a tiny bit.

Nursey follows Dex as he traipses up the stairs and into the bathroom. The pair brush their teeth and pull off their hoodies, following the week's established routine and falling into Nursey's bed like they have been doing for so many days now.

If Nursey wakes up five minutes earlier each morning just to watch Dex wake up, he won't admit it.

"Nursey?"

It's eight thirty and Nursey doesn't realise Dex is awake. His voice startles him, but to give him credit, he doesn't jump.

"Yeah?" he replies.

Dex turns to face him and Nursey almost chokes at the sight of him, rosy cheeked and sleepy, sans shirt.

"Do platonic friends sleep in each other's beds every night?"

Nursey feels himself blush. He had felt like he'd been pushing it by simply just sleeping in Dex's bed after he helped run through Dex's flash cards with him, but in his defence, Dex often falls asleep in his bed as Nursey reads him poem after poem.

After a time, he's just started to think that maybe this is  _them_. Nursey and Dex, Derek and Will, falling asleep on each other. And whilst Chowder's text reminders and Bitty's knowing looks are practically a constant, Nursey has managed to get this far without acknowledging it.

"Uh, I don't think so, no," Nursey offers.

"Hmm," Dex mutters. "Good."

Then he slings his arm over Nursey's chest and pulls him closer.

 

** \+ one **

* * *

  _ **09:12 Tango:** why are Nursey and Dex asleep on the sofa? it's the morning_

_**09:12 Tango:** they're like tangled in a ball _

_**09:14 Tango:** sent a photo _

_** 09:12 Ransom:  ** bro_

**_ 09:16 Tango: _ ** _  they just kissed and Dex said "post that on the fuckin' group" _

**_ 09:16 Ransom: _ ** _  b R O _

**_ 09:16 Shitty: _ ** _  what !!!!!! what. WHat. GUYS!!?? WHAT'D I MISS _

**_ 09:17 Holster: _ ** _  HAMILTON REFERENCE _

**_ 09:17 Bitty: _ ** _  Birkholtz. _

To sum it up, madness descends on the Haus. Bitty bakes a celebratory ' _ well done for finally getting your shit together _ ' sponge and happily soaks up the compliments about how he could fit so many words on one cake. Money is collected from what seems to be more than one bet and Holster plays  _ Seasons of Love _ on a loop for two hours.

Nursey and Dex, however, miss it all.

They're curled up together in Nursey's bed back in his room, sleepily laughing at one another's dumb chirps and Nursey whispering poetry under his breath.

Nursey loves that this is  them now, even though it's been them for such a long time without them realising. Dex is happy, and even though Nursey was never angry at the world like Dex always seemed to be, it made his life better to see that somebody he loved was living his life happy.

"I'm so glad I can sleep now," Dex says sleepily.

"I'm so glad you can sleep now too," Nursey smiles. "I didn't like seeing you so tired all the time, habibi."

"I Googled that the first time you said it to me, y'know," Dex mumbles into the duvet.

Nursey sits bolt upright and laughs aloud. He had practically called Dex that from the very first time they had met, and many times after. "What? Why didn't you say anything!"

Dex shrugs, his face covered by the duvet. "I guess I must've thought it was wishful thinking."

Nursey grins widely. He thinks he probably looks like a bit of an idiot.

"I Google all the stuff you say to me," Dex adds. "I wrote them all down."

"But they're all so embarrassing!" Nursey laughs.

"I love them all," Dex shrugs again, somehow so dismissive of such a powerful comment.

"Wǒ ài nǐ, ana bahebak, je t'aime, ich liebe dich, ti amo,  _ te _ amo," Nursey recites, reeling off languages the same way he always does when Dex says something that knocks his breath out of him.

Dex looks up and smiles at him, a soft smile that makes all of Nursey's insides melt.

"I love you too," he replies.

 

**Author's Note:**

> find me on tumblr [here](http://www.omgpoindexter.tumblr.com) to scream at me about nurseydex and i will scream right back at you. we can have a nurseydex screaming match. it will be fun!
> 
> fils de salope - son of a bitch (french)  
> tu es completement débile - you're completely crazy (french)  
> putain - fuck (french)  
> habibi - my love (arabic)  
> ana bahebak - i love you (arabic)  
> cojeme - fuck me (spanish)  
> qué chingados - what the fuck (spanish)  
> wǒ ài nǐ - i love you (mandarin)  
> zhù nǐ háoyùn - good luck (mandarin)  
> i didn't put the i love yous in the end because i think its apparent from context :)


End file.
